-|^ls' 4^' 4*|^s 4'l^. ^ 4^4 e^&^Q^agsses^ssss^Si^^^!^^^' S^^^SSiK^J^.^g^v'?^???^^^ , /, ,'• / J /'S'' ^^^c^-^>^^ ^a^^^-tf/. POEMS BY FELICIA HEMANS, WITH AN ESSAY ON HER GENIUS, BY H T. TUCKERMAN. EDITED BY RUFUS W. GRISWOLD. NEW rOEK: LEAYITT & ALLEN BROS., No. 8 nOV/ARD STREET. INTRODUCTION. FELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE was born in Liverpool on the twenty-first of September, 1793. Her child­ hood was passed among the wild mountain scenery of Wales; and before she was nineteen years of age, she had a printed collection of verses before the world.^ From this period to the end of her history she sent forth volume after volume, each surpassing its prede­ cessor in tenderness and beauty. At nineteen she Vv-as married to Captain HEMANS, of the Fourth regiment. He was of an irritable tempera­ ment, and his health had been injured by the vicis­ situdes of a military life. They lived together unhap­ pily for several years, when Captain HEMANS left England for Italy and never returned. Mrs. HEMANS continued to reside with her mother and her sister. Miss MAUY ANNE BUOWNE, now Mrs, GRAY, a poetess of some reputation, near St. Asaph, in North Wales, where she devoted her attention to literature and to the education of her children, five sons, in whom all her affections from this time v/ere centered. Here she wiote The Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy, Modern Greece, Translations from Camoens, Wallace, (iv) Dartmoor, The Sceptic, Welsh Melodies, Historic Scenes, The Siege of Valencia, The Vespers of Palermo, The Forest Sanctuary, The Songs of the Affections, Records of Women, and the lays of Many Lands. The death of her mother, in 1827, induced Mrs. HEMANS to leave Wales and reside at Wavertree, near Liverpool. While here she made two visits to Scot­ land, and was warmly received by JEFFREY, WALTER SCOTT, and the other eminent literary persons of the northern metropolis. On her return from her second tour in Scotland, she changed her residence from Wavertree to Dublin, where she published her Hymns for-Children, National Lyrics, and Songs for Music. Her domestic sorrows, and the earnestness with which she devoted herself to literary pursuits, had long before impaired her health; and now her decline became rapid, and induced forebodings of death. Her poems, written in this period, were marked by a melancholy despondency, yet with a Christian resigna­ tion. After an illness singularly painful and protracted, she died on the sixteenth of May, 1835, in the forty- second year of her age, and was buried in the vault of St. Anne's, in Dub in. t i ., u 1^ ESSAY. WE have heard much of late regarding the rights and sphere of ] woman. The topic has become trite. One branch of the discussion, however, is worthy of careful notice — the true theoiy of cultivated and liberal men on the subject. This has been greatly misunder­ stood. The idea has been often suggested that man is jealous of his alleged intellectual superiority, while little has been advanced in illustration of his genuine reverence for female character. Because the other sex cannot always find erudition so attractive as grace in v/oman, and strong mental traits so captivating as a beautiful dis­ position, it is absurdly urged that mind and learning are only honored in masculine attire. The truth is, that men of feeling in­ stinctively recognize something higher than intellect. They feel that a noble and true soul is greater and more delightful than mere reason, however powerful; and they know that to this, extensive knowledge and active logical powers are not essential. It is not the attainments, or the literary talent, that they would have women abjure. They only pray that through and above these may appear the woman. They desire that the harmony of nature may not be disturbed; that the essential foundations of love may not be invaded; that the sensibility, delicacy, and quiet enthusiasm of the female heart may continue to awaken in man the tender i-evcrence, which is the most elevating of his sentiments. Portia is highly intellectual; but even while arrayed m male cos­ tume and enacting the public advocate, the essential and captivating characteristics of her true sex inspire her mien and language. Vittoria Coionna\vas one of the most gifted spirits of her age — the favorite companion of Michael Angelo, but her life and works were but the eloquent de^elopement of exalted womanhood. Madame Roland displayed a. strength of character singularly heroic, but her brave dignity was perfectly feminine. Isabella of Spain gave evi­ dence of a mind remarkably comprehensive, and a rare degree of judgment; yet in perusing her history, we are never beguiled from the (5) 1* I.. _-^ . — - t— -" • -^m^ '• • •••> I- • - ,,,...*• , „ •___ .M..wf ••— • ., .m.^^.u ^ .- I—-••••• • I • r (Vi) feeling of her queenly character. There is an essential quality of sex, to be felt rather than described, and it is when this is marred, that a feeling of disappointment is the^consequence. It is as if we should find violets growing on a tall tree. The triumphs of mind always command respect, but their style and trophies have diverse com­ plexions in the two sexes. It is only v/hen these distinctions are lost, that they fail to interest. It matters not how erudite or mentally gifted a woman may be, so that she remains in manner and feeling a woman. Such is the idea that man loves to see realized; and in cherishing it, he gives the highest proof of his estimation of woman. He delights to witness the exercise of her noblest prerogative. He is charmed to behold her in the most effective attitude. He appreciates too truly the beauty and power of her nature to wish to see it arrayed in any but a becoming dress. There is such a thing as female science, philosophy and poetry, as there is female physiognomy and taste; not that their absolute qualities differ in the two sexes, but their relative aspect is distinct. Their sphere is as large and high, and infinitely more delicate and deep than that of man, though not so obvious. When they overstep their appropriate domain, much of their mental influence is lost. Freely and purely exerted, it is at once recognized and loved. Man delights to meet woman in the field of letters as well as in the arena of social life. There also is she his better angel. With exquisite satisfaction he learns at her feet the lessons of mental refinement and moral sensibility. From her teachings he catches a grace and sentiment unwritten by his own sex. Especially in poetiy, beams, with starlight beauty, the light of her soul. There he reads the records of a woman's heart. He hears from her own lips how the charms of nature and the mysteries of life have wrciight in her bosom. Of such women, Mrs. Hemans is the most cherished of our day. Life is the prim^e source of literature, and especially of-its most effective and universal departments. Poetry should therefore be the offspring of deep experience. Otherwi&c it is superficial and temporary. "What phase of existence is chiefly revealed to woman 1 Which domain of experience is she best fitted by her nature and position to illustrate 1 Undoubtedly, the influence and power of I the affections. In these her destiny is more completely invoh/ed, ! through these her mind more exclusively acts, than is the case I with our sex. Accordingly, her insight is greater, and her interest | more extensiA^e in the sphere of the beam With a quicker (vii) sympathy, and a finer perception, will she enter into the history and result of the affections. Accordingly, when the mantle of song falls upon a woman, we cannot but look for new revelations of sentiment. Not that the charms of nature and the majesty of great events may not appropriately attract her muse; but with and around these, if she is a true poetess, we see ever entwined the delicate flowers that flourish in the atmosj here of home, and are reared to full maturity only under the trailing of woman. Thus the poetic in her character finds free development. She can here speak with authority. It is, indeed, irreverent to dictate to genius, but the themes of female poetry are written in the very structure of the soul. Political economy may find devotees among the gentler sex; and so an approach to the mental hardihood of Lady Macbeth may appear orice in the course of an age; whereas, every year we light on the traces of a Juliet, a Cleopatra and an Isabel. The spirit of Mrs. Hemans in all she has Avritten, is essentially feminine. Various as are her subjects^ they are stamped with the same image and superscription. She has drawn her prevailing vein of feeling from one source. • She has thrown over all her effu­ sions, not so much the drapery of knowledge, or the light of ex­ tensive observation, as the warm and shifting hues of the heart. These she had at command. She knew their effects, and felt their mystery. Hence the lavish confidence with w^hich she devoted them to the creations of fancy and the illustration of truth. From the voice of her own consciousness, Mrs. Hemans realized what a capacity of joy and sorrow, of strength and weakness, exists in the human heart. This she made it her study to unfold. The Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy is, as Byron said when it appeared, a very good poem.